LTC Jill M. Rahon, Ph.D.

LTC Jill Rahon is an assistant professor and research program director in the Department of Physics & Nuclear Engineering at the United States Military Academy (USMA). She is also the course director for radiation detection and measurement.

The Washingtonville, New York, native graduated from USMA in 2006 with a B.S. in strategic history. She attended flight school at Fort Novosel, Alabama, and graduated as the honor graduate of her class, selecting CH-47D/F Chinook helicopters. 

LTC Rahon progressed to pilot in command and air mission commander with the 101st Airborne Division, where she had three deployments to Operation Enduring Freedom and over 1,500 hours of combat flight time, flying hundreds of air assaults and earning several Air Medals and the Soldier’s Medal for heroism. She commanded B/6-101 Avn at FOB Shank and Jalabad Airfield, where the company flew direct action support missions for the United States and coalition special forces. 

LTC Rahon received her master’s degree in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She attained the position of assistant professor while teaching at USMA and later became deputy director of the Nuclear Science and Engineering Research Center with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. She completed her Ph.D. work in the applied nuclear physics laboratory at MIT, researching isotopic identification through resonance capture. 

She loves working on her 100-year-old house with her husband and step-dancing with her twin 3-year-old daughters.